Review: ‘Wicked’ sets a new gold standard in movie musicals

How do I love”Evil,” let me count the ways. I love the way Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande play frenemy witches with their talent shining on the highest beams. I love the way the movie works as a prequel and a sequel to “The Wizard of Oz” with Dorothy on the sidelines. And I love the way “Wicked” is finding its own identity apart from the Broadway musical that spawned it.

Like a comet pulled from its stage orbit, “Wicked” splashes onto the screen to spread its wings and take flight. The result is one of the best films of the year, a joyous outburst streaked with darkness. It’s also a vehicle for the Grammy-winning songs of Stephen Schwartz and a sharp script co-adapted by stage creator Winnie Holzman from Gregory Maguire’s novel.

Director Jon M. Chu, who proved he had the right stuff with “Crazy Rich Asians” and “In the Heights,” wisely approaches his job with an artist’s disciple matched by a fanboy’s undeniable love. Too much? Perhaps. But “evil” heads will not be able to withstand it.

There’s been a lot of love for “Wicked,” which still runs on Broadway with no signs of stopping after 23 years, spawning countless productions at home and abroad, billion-dollar profits and fans who rival Swifties for unwavering loyalty.

Of course haters gonna hate and “evil” critics cringe at its sentimentality. Please note that even the acclaimed 1939 “Oz” was showered with withering reviews (the New Yorker called it a “stinkeroo”). Somehow, classics break through the noise.

My advice? Don’t hang back with the snobs. Other films this year are bigger (“Dune Part 2”), weightier (“The Brutalist”), wittier (“Anora”), twistier (“Conclave”) and extra adventurous (“Emilia Perez”), but none leave a more indelible handprint on the heart than “Wicked.”

Like the play, the film opens with the funeral of the green girl Elphaba (Erivo), aka the Wicked Witch of the West, presided over by the good witch Glinda (Grande). Villain and heroine are carefully delineated in an operatic scene-setter from Oz, “No One Mourns the Wicked.”

But are the lines really drawn that hard and fast? A movie-length flashback shows the two as misfit roomies at Shiz University, where sorcery is on the curriculum. The headmistress, Madame Morrible (the great Michelle Yeoh), sends Elphaba to study with the bizarre Wizard, possessed by Jeff Goldblum with an eerie charm that will keep you guessing.

Erivo lets loose her formidable lungs on “The Wizard and I,” promising to team up with the Wizard so he will gradnify her. No chance. Meanwhile, Glinda practices her makeover skills on Elphaba in a knockout number, “Popular,” where Grande shows she’s a comedic dynamo with real acting chops. Erivo and Grande are to die for in performances that should put both in the Oscar race.

Cheers also to Jonathan Bailey as the rogue Prince Fiyero. You get a demonstration of song, dance and acting virtuosity in “Dancing Through Life” as this fresh thirst trap comes between Elphaba and Glinda. Fortunately, the romantic triangle takes a back seat to Elphaba and Glinda’s friendship, giving the film its backbone, grace and grieving conscience.

And what about the talking animals in Oz? Peter Dinklage talks about history teacher Doctor Dillamond (he’s a goat), just one of the beastie intellects locked up and denied the faculty of speech. Something bad happens in Oz, and the story culminates in Elphaba fleeing oppression with “Defying Gravity,” the showstopper that ends the film on a soaring note.

Hey, wait a minute. “Defying Gravity” is only the end of the first act on stage, which makes me join the growing protest against splitting “Wicked” into two films. And in a decision that will prove to be either wise or stupid, the audience will have to wait a whole year for the second part.

I guess we all get caught up in the magic, especially when Grande defines delicious and Erivo delivers a tour de force that also nails every quiet nuance in a performance for the ages. And the word is “wow” for the crescendo of musical runs she unleashes after hitting the belt “and none in all Oz/no wizard that is or was/will ever bring me down.” Better believe it.

Because of the wonderful things it does, even half of “Wicked” stands as a new gold standard in movie musicals and a perfect compliment to the immortal “The Wizard of Oz”.

I’ve heard it said that movies come into our lives for a reason. And “Wicked” has good reason, especially now, to celebrate the power of women in a world that cages outsiders. These witches can preach. They can also set the screen on fire. No wonder watching “Wicked” once just isn’t enough.